A Houston police officer was shot in the back following a “routine traffic stop” near the Midtown area. The officer did not sustain a life-threatening injury, and is expected to make a complete recovery.
Traffic Enforcement Officer Terry Smith was completing a traffic stop at about 6 p.m. Tuesday evening when he heard a loud pop, according to a KTRK news report. Smith felt pain in his lower back and realized he had been shot.
It is being reported that Smith is undergoing surgery at Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland said the incident appeared to be random in nature, and they are not sure if Smith was the intended target. His comments came during a Tuesday evening press conference.
While it is not known if this shooting is related to the ongoing anti-police sentiment making its way across the country, Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly has accused media outlets of fueling the fire against police.
“Certain liberal news programs are hammering down on American police agencies over and over again,” O’Reilly said, according to a Newsmax report. O’Reilly said the repeated message is filtering its way into how young people react to the police, and tied the McKinney incident to this.
“Some people believe the cops in general are the oppressors, especially towards people of color,” he said.
In April, a Houston Community College police officer was repeatedly stabbed and was nearly killed. Her alleged assailant said he wanted to kill a cop because of the incidents in other cities.
Officer Smith is expected to make a full recovery. The Houston Police Department will conduct an investigation into the shooting.
Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.